Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (May 21, 1960 – November 28, 1994) was an American serial killer who killed 17 men between 1978 and 1991 (with the majority of the murders occurring in 1991). He was born to a fundamentalist father in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At age eight, his family moved to Bath, Ohio, near Akron. From his earliest youth he was extremely shy, and, according to his father, was molested as a child by a neighbor. He collected dead animals and showed signs of necrophilia, but this was revealed only at his trial. He was also a closeted alcoholic and homosexual and suffered from extremely low self-esteem. His parents divorced when he was in his teens. He committed his first murder at the age of 18, killing a young man he'd invited to his house because Dahmer "didn't want him to leave." Later on he went to college but performed poorly. His father convinced him to join the military, and he appeared to recover some vitality as he became an army medic, but shortly after he began the string of murders that led to his arrest many years later.

Most of his victims were young, homosexual black men whom Dahmer subjected to sexual assaults. His main goal was for a completely compliant sexual partner, essentially making his motivation for killing necrophilia. He achieved notoriety after his arrest following the discovery of several of his victims' decaying bodies in acid vats in his apartment. Severed heads were found in his refrigerator, and an altar of candles and human skulls was found in his closet. Accusations soon surfaced that Dahmer had practiced necrophilia and cannibalism. Dahmer admitted to eating the biceps of his eighth victim, noting that human flesh "tasted like beef" to him.

The explanation offered by Dahmer himself for his behavior was that he was attempting to remove the free will from his victims so that they would stay with him forever. Dahmer had experimented with removing sections of his living victims' skulls and pouring various chemicals into their brain cavities to try to create lobotomized zombies compliant to his wishes to fulfill his sexual desires.

On July 22, 1991, with handcuffs still attached to one wrist, Tracy Edwards, was able to successfully escape from Dahmer's apartment and flag down a police squad car. Police were led back to Dahmer's apartment, where the remains of eleven victims were found. Dahmer reportedly scuffled with police trying to arrest him as the remains were being discovered. After being charged with fifteen counts of murder he entered a plea of guilty but insane. On February 17, 1992, a court rejected his plea of insanity and sentenced Dahmer to fifteen consecutive life sentences, which required a minimum of 936 years imprisonment. Wisconsin does not have capital punishment. Dahmer served his time at the Columbia Correctional Institute in Portage, Wisconsin. While there, fellow inmate Christopher Scarver, a double murderer, beat Dahmer and another inmate to death in the prison gymnasium, using a lead pipe.

They smelled the foul odors. They heard the power saw buzzing in the dead of night but neighbors never imagined the horrors happening right next door. The hot sultry night of July 22, 1991 was one the tenants of the Oxford Apartments would never forget. A panic stcricken young man--a pair of handcuffs still dangling from his wrists--ran out of Apartment 213 and told police an incredible tale of terror. Shaking with fear, he led officers back to his captor's lair, where they made the gruesome discovery. Inside were the body parts of at least fifteen men--including torsos stuffed into a barrel, severed heads in a refrigerator, and skulls boiled clean and stashed in a filing cabinet. Tacked to the freezer were Poloroid photographs of mutilated corpses. When investigators arrested 31-year-old Jeffrey Dahmer, they realized they had stumbled onto a "real-life Hannibal Lecter"--a sadistic murderer who told them he had saved a human heart "to eat later". What could turn a handsome, former tennis player, the son of middle-class parents, into a perverse serial killer whose unthinkable acts shocked the nation? The Jeffrey Dahmer Story takes you into Jeffrey Dahmer's twisted world of bizarre sexual encounters, mutilation and cannibalism--in one of history's most appalling true crime cases. With 8 pages of chilling photographs.MORE... USA

"How does one explain a killer with no motive one who takes the life of others not out of hate or fear, but for sport? And are the police equipped to handle such cases? Delve into the sordid story of one of the most notorious cases of all time to find the answer. Jeffrey Dahmer killed 16 young men and boys, committing acts of cannibalism, dismemberment and necrophilia. But as the details of his atrocities emerged, more and more people wondered why the Milwaukee police had not captured him sooner. In this insightful program, the families of some of Dahmer's victims question why their loved ones were not saved from the killer, while officers and officials explain why the case was handled the way it was. And FBI expert Robert Ressler details the psychological profile of a serial killer, showing how it applies to this and other cases. It's a unique journey into the dark corners of the human mind and a troubling indictment of law enforcement's inability to recognize clues that can lead to the monsters among us."MORE... USA